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Post by channonite on Apr 2, 2024 4:29:38 GMT
Yesterday was the day I realised that promotion this season had moved from being a distinct possibility to a very long shot, and the whole club is now surrounded by a cloud of uncertainty.
Jason Wilcox's departure to Manchester United has all sorts of ramifications for the club. We go from having a plan to progress with a long-term vision to being rudderless, and Martin loses his mentor and sounding board. It has looked for some time now that our DoF had already left for all practical purposes. Wilcox's failure to say anything about the rumours added weight to them. The knock-on effect of that has been that without that leadership at the top, Martin has begun to look more like Ralph in his latter days: alone and aimless, with his team selections and tactical decisions looking more and more questionable.
It is crucial for Sports Republic to secure a strong replacement for Wilcox, a prospect that seems uncertain at the moment. Without this, we are likely to face another prolonged period of instability. Failure to get the club promoted will also mean Martin's future with the club is less certain. Regardless of this decision, we can expect a significant turnover of players in the upcoming off-season. This would result in a new season with many familiar faces gone, and reduced financial resources would mean a lower standard of replacements.
Ipswich is showing just what is possible with stability at the top, a plan, and a decent manager. You don't necessarily need lots of expensive players on massive wages; you need to build a team like we did in Cortese's and Nigel Adkins' promotion seasons. What makes it even more frustrating is seeing Saints play so well yesterday for long periods of the match and then, almost predictably, unravel to the inevitable defeat.
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Post by Furry Frank The Combat Wombat on Apr 2, 2024 6:16:12 GMT
With the benefit of hindsight, the Wilcox departure rumours initially surfaced a few weeks back and we haven't been decent the entire time. That makes me wonder how much he was supporting RM behind the scenes...after all RM is a relatively inexperienced manager, certainly at this level, and definitely at managing players of the calibre we have in the squad.
We all knew that if we failed to go up this season, it would mean another rebuild in the summer, but Wilcox might have made that process a bit easier. Much only hope is that the club have been working on a replacement since the rumours first surfaced and that we won't wait til the end of the season to find a suitable replacement. If not, the spectre of another Ankersen-managed window looms, which could be seriously disastrous.
fecking ManU.
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Post by channonite on Apr 2, 2024 7:24:18 GMT
Indeed. They can just feck off and when they have done that, repeat.  |
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Post by saintsfan73 on Apr 2, 2024 9:33:49 GMT
We're in for a long stay in the lower leagues lads.
Will be interesting to see if we avoid points deductions next season. Our massive wage bill alone is far more than our revenue (even with parachute payments) so we'll be making another huge loss this season and the sales of Livermento and Lavia probably didn't cover last seasons £100m+ loss.
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Post by spot51 on Apr 2, 2024 9:45:37 GMT
I feel your pain channonite but, as we said regarding the Chris Nicholl affair, this does not feel like the plucky little club we both fell in love with BITD. I don't bash the club like you-know-who but that doesn't mean I'm happy with SR and all their works. Wilcox was a big prize to bring in as we fell out of the Prem but getting in a bunch of good loans for a club bound to be near the top of the EFL ain't rocket science FFS. Since SR took over we have got the investment missing under Gao but their signings have been distinctly underwhelming. I believe THB is here on a loan to buy basis. If we can buy him we absolutely must as the defensive rock to build our future team around. I fear, however, that a repeat of the Toby Alderweireld situation may see him on the bench at some Prem club instead. Saints are a unique club. We are best fighting above our weight and delivering the odd bloody nose to heavyweights. We also have a lot of former players who still love us and I'd be happy to see some of those become involved in our rebuild. A good start would be to get James Beattie (who is always hanging around SMS) back in some coaching role. Jo Tess talks a great game. Could he walk the talk too? I am condemned to follow Saints till my death. I don't much care what league we are in but, till my sodding knees are fixed, I 'd prefer to stay in the upper echelons of the Champ so we stay on TV a lot. Up the Saints! |
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Post by yateleysaint on Apr 3, 2024 8:53:11 GMT
As Wilcox is off, which poor signings can I now blame on him?
I just checked Wiki and saw that he’s only been in post for little over a year so anything before January 2023 wasn’t his fault.
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Post by saintsfan73 on Apr 3, 2024 9:21:57 GMT
As Wilcox is off, which poor signings can I now blame on him? I just checked Wiki and saw that he’s only been in post for little over a year so anything before January 2023 wasn’t his fault. He can take credit for the CNM and Shea Charles masterstrokes though. |
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Post by Sir B3na1i on Apr 3, 2024 9:36:16 GMT
As Wilcox is off, which poor signings can I now blame on him? I just checked Wiki and saw that he’s only been in post for little over a year so anything before January 2023 wasn’t his fault. He can take credit for the CNM and Shea Charles masterstrokes though. What's Shea Charles done wrong? Apart from not being Flynn Downes? He looks a player to me. His stats aren't great but that's typically because he's a sub that comes into games late when either we're attacking heavily or under the cosh but I think when he starts (in a variety of positions) he's generally done well |
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Post by saintsfan73 on Apr 3, 2024 9:46:14 GMT
He can take credit for the CNM and Shea Charles masterstrokes though. What's Shea Charles done wrong? Apart from not being Flynn Downes? He looks a player to me. His stats aren't great but that's typically because he's a sub that comes into games late when either we're attacking heavily or under the cosh but I think when he starts (in a variety of positions) he's generally done well You answered your own question there with 'typically he's a sub'. We spent more money on him than the majority of clubs in this league spend on their entire squads. He was one of only two paid transfers we were able to bring in in 2 windows this season (the other being the CNM). The pair of them have contributed very little. It's all very well bringing in a young player that is one for a few years down the line if you are an established PL club but not for a relegated club whose biggest chance of returning to the PL is doing it in the next season. If our budget for new players was £17m this season and it was Wilcox's job to spend this money in a way that would give us the greatest chance of promotion you would have to say the purchases of CNM and Charles were massive failures. |
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Post by Sir B3na1i on Apr 3, 2024 10:12:55 GMT
What's Shea Charles done wrong? Apart from not being Flynn Downes? He looks a player to me. His stats aren't great but that's typically because he's a sub that comes into games late when either we're attacking heavily or under the cosh but I think when he starts (in a variety of positions) he's generally done well You answered your own question there with 'typically he's a sub'. We spent more money on him than the majority of clubs in this league spend on their entire squads. He was one of only two paid transfers we were able to bring in in 2 windows this season (the other being the CNM). The pair of them have contributed very little. It's all very well bringing in a young player that is one for a few years down the line if you are an established PL club but not for a relegated club whose biggest chance of returning to the PL is doing it in the next season. If our budget for new players was £17m this season and it was Wilcox's job to spend this money in a way that would give us the greatest chance of promotion you would have to say the purchases of CNM and Charles were massive failures. You think we should have passed up the opportunity to sign one of the best talents from the Man City youth set up and/or passed up the opportunity to sign Flynn Downnes who's proving to be one of / if not the best CDMs in the league? Shea Charles will go on to be a great signing, but let's not be daft if we could get him and Downes on loan we absolutely did the right thing. Remember Morgan Schnederlin... we paid a lot (in those days) for his potential too. It worked |
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Post by saintsfan73 on Apr 3, 2024 10:36:58 GMT
You answered your own question there with 'typically he's a sub'. We spent more money on him than the majority of clubs in this league spend on their entire squads. He was one of only two paid transfers we were able to bring in in 2 windows this season (the other being the CNM). The pair of them have contributed very little. It's all very well bringing in a young player that is one for a few years down the line if you are an established PL club but not for a relegated club whose biggest chance of returning to the PL is doing it in the next season. If our budget for new players was £17m this season and it was Wilcox's job to spend this money in a way that would give us the greatest chance of promotion you would have to say the purchases of CNM and Charles were massive failures. You think we should have passed up the opportunity to sign one of the best talents from the Man City youth set up Yes. Of course we should have. This season, and the entire financial future of the club, was all about getting straight back on the PL gravy train. We had a good squad left from the PL and brought in good loans but what looks like the difference between us going up and not will be how badly we spent the £17m. It was not the time for bringing in players who could not deliver straight away. But we all know the arrogance SR have which would not allow this. They are always chasing the next player trading model success rather than on the pitch success. It will be doubly hard to get promoted next season, don't think for a minute we'll have another £10m to spend on a whim (or that points deductions won't be a realistic prospect for us). |
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Post by Furry Frank The Combat Wombat on Apr 3, 2024 11:59:13 GMT
He can take credit for the CNM and Shea Charles masterstrokes though. What's Shea Charles done wrong? Apart from not being Flynn Downes? He looks a player to me. His stats aren't great but that's typically because he's a sub that comes into games late when either we're attacking heavily or under the cosh but I think when he starts (in a variety of positions) he's generally done well Nothing, it's Martin's refusal to play him (either when Downes was out, or next to Downes when we're under pressure) that's costing us points (that and other things, of course) |
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Post by yateleysaint on Apr 4, 2024 12:00:54 GMT
I don’t understand why SR dispensed with the philosophy that has served Saints so well for nearly 150 years - bringing through players and selling them for a massive profit. I don’t see the point of paying £10m straight off the bat for each of Man City’s cast-offs when we could be bringing through our own players for much less and banking all the profit. Like RM, SR are nowhere near as clever as they think they are.
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Post by threehundred on Apr 4, 2024 14:40:27 GMT
I don’t mind buying young talent and turning a profit. Lavia, Tino etc.- all good business.
It’s the total lack of buying experience / pedigree to support and supplement the youth that has cost us 2 years in a row.
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Post by yateleysaint on Apr 5, 2024 8:29:14 GMT
I don’t mind buying young talent and turning a profit. Lavia, Tino etc.- all good business. It’s the total lack of buying experience / pedigree to support and supplement the youth that has cost us 2 years in a row. I forgot about Tino. We did well out of Lavia too, given that he’s Chelsea’s Ross Stewart. |
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